Glimmer of Hope
by hermione169242
Summary: Takes place at the end of the episode where Shawn and Gus go to their High School Reunion. It's in Juliet's perspective. R//R.


While I know that this story may have been done before quiet a bit, I couldn't help but writing it out myself. This takes place during the episode where Shawn and Gus go to their High School Reunion.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Psych, nor the characters.

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Glimmer of Hope

"…my best friend, Gus…"

All eyes shifted to Gus who stood there with a little blush but a smile spread across his face nevertheless while his own actions were clearly seen as something mystified by Shawn's sudden burst of a speech which nevertheless gave him every reason in the world to appreciate the very man that his best friend had turned into. Every expression, lax with contentment and marvel at the mere thought of the case being considered over, turned to a bright beaming smile while each person in the room stared into the delicate stance of a single Burton Guster who had taken this very moment to take it all in.

One pair of soft brown eyes continued to remain on the speaker whose extra enthusiastic expressions when he spoke about his best friend only made the blonde woman smile even more. Hell, she had taken out so much time to even devise a specific plan to put on that certain dress in her closet which had never seen daylight since the day she bought it. For what had seemed like an awfully urgent situation for her to arrive at the class reunion, the young detective who could and would rather pull out her gun that flash her long slender legs spent far more time than necessary in front of the mirror. But all of it was for one single glance by a certain young psychic who she had found herself attracted too even when his every whimsical action left her wondering if his words to her were a mere play upon his powers or a matter of honesty in which she could set her hopes in.

She could have said so much to him in the time that she spent in the reunion. The case had been fulfilled, her partner had decided to put the culprits behind bars and somehow, Juliet O'Hara had continued to spend her time at the reunion which hard turned into a foolproof lie of her own reunion had been unattended due to a job she had left to complete. It had been long since things had put to a complete stop for her own presence to be gone and yet, she stood there. It had taken all her strength that after the speech was done and the roar of applause that broke her out from her trance, she actually moved.

Juliet stood off to the side, disguised by a mere shadow casting over her, while the two men on stage quickly pulled themselves off. Her eyes watched as Shawn pulled a quick hasty maneuver, acting out a scene from an action movie in his terms, and slid himself away from the platform that had become his legacy in the past few moments. "Congratulations, Shawn." She whispered softly as her fingers tugged at the gentle curl of one strand of hair away from her gently parted glossed lips. The tip of her tongue grazed against her bottom lip while her eyes danced across the floor, watching every so gently while the man made his way across.

"Juliet, still here?" She snapped her head around to find herself staring into chin of Gus. Slowly, her head tilted up every so slightly for all of a mere second till her brown eyes meet Gus's own comforting ones that nearly screamed the truth that Juliet had stood for so long to hide.

"I couldn't help but listen to the little speech." She grinned a little, a façade of the motions that rang through her while from the corner of her eye she could see Shawn slowly making his way through the crowd towards a woman Juliet had seen him with for a while earlier on into the early moments of the night. "Quiet a-"

Gus's chuckle broke her from her sentence while he flickered his glance back to the stage, leaving Juliet to steal a moment back at the man who had somehow delicately captured her heart. "I'm fairly certain that was the only speech he's ever said in his life not to impress a girl." He whispered a little, turning back towards the beauty before him and nodded his head a little-a manner that had become his trademark while Shawn's had been his dancing actions.

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that, Gus." Regretfully, she pointed towards the woman with whom Shawn closed the gap in for a second. Every second she watched him, he had changed his steps. Instead of his rather witty smirk that he used ever so often on her, he had pulled out another tactic that Juliet had so longed to see in his eyes for her own presence.

The chuckle that passed through Gus only made Juliet hastily jump a little, her trance lost instantly, and her eyes were back on the man. Then the expression that had usually gave Juliet some warmth, some comfort in knowing that everything really would be okay, fell against all odds while his head tilted to the side. For a brief moment, Juliet held in her breath, wondering if by any chance her exterior had been lost to the emotions that ran deep within, leaving her as vulnerable as ever before. And in that course of that mere second, Gus seemed to have made matters click in his head. While his investigating skills weren't always up to their greatest attempt, when it came to his best friend, he understood all.

"Can I get you a drink?" That sentence in itself seemed to have some adverse affects to her and the gentleness of it had given her more than a logical step to finding herself trusting that whatever Gus did know, he would keep to himself. It was clear that the man had put two and two together, but he seemed to have done a good job of hiding whatever it was he gathered to himself, long enough to only give her a simple look that made it seem as though no matter what, his part in her decision would be kept to a full discloser and be respected in its entirety.

"Thanks Gus, I'm fine."

"Alright. Have fun, Juliet." A simple hand gesture, the palm of his hand resting against her shoulder and then a simple nod of his head instantly meant he was going to rush off. And not because of what he knew, but because he understood more than anything else that at this point in time, not even a friendly face would assist Juliet in the reprimand she would give herself for falling for someone like Shawn Spencer. Then, he was gone just as quick as he came, leaving her to simply stand there in that pink dress most considered as her prom dress. Little did they know that her prom dress was no where near what she wore that night and a dress that no one would ever know about.

In a casual breach, she had managed to pass through the crowd of people as though she belonged. If only they knew that she was far from it. A deep breath later, she had managed to get across the floor towards the refreshments. Something there had to be alcoholic enough to give her the punch she needed. Or at least something to put in her mouth after half a day of simply worrying and dancing around Shawn Spencer's whim. There really was no reason for her to even be there, so it seemed.

Perhaps it was a glimmer of hope that had brought her there on winged feet.

Her gentle fingers curved over the edge of the table edge, feeling the rounded corner against the palm of her hand. Slowly, she trailed her long fingers over the red table cloth till she slipped her hand into the chips bowl, picking one chip at the top and holding it in her hand as though inspecting it. Every curve, every ridge in the Cheddar and Sour Cream Lays Chips seemed to all point to one direction. But she refused to even look in that direction, having a feeling that she would regret what she would see.

Ignoring all signs that ran against her body, the nerves that seemed to pound against her chest, she bit down on the chip and watched as the gentle crumbs fell against the table cloth, marking their own existence and stained the fabric. The rest of the chip went down easy in her mouth and soon her sore throat begged for some sort of drink. Without even thinking, she reached out and let her fingers wrap around the plastic cup and pulled it closer to her lips. Taking a little sip, her eyes skimmed across the dance floor and then found the pair that she had been for so long avoiding.

It took all her strength to keep herself completely intact when she set her sights on the couple trapped in a lip lock. Her stomach did an internal flip and for a brief second, she had honestly felt herself stop breathing. It wasn't as though she hadn't been in a relationship before, or been hurt by men before. But this time around, it was as though she had been fighting a whole new delicacy of pain could never be described by anything less sinister than a heartbreak. Quickly, she averted her eyes, the stinging of emotion behind her eyes forcing her to blink a few times before her head tilted up towards the ceiling.

Her fingers early tightened around the plastic glass, thankful for it not having been actual glass, and paused while her back was now turned towards the happy couple. Quickly, she downed the rest of the drink, the fruit punch flavor packing in far too much than necessary for anything else in her mouth. All she could taste, however, was the soreness of the pain of what she witnessed, knowing that recovering from that itself would be an extreme pressure on her own part.

The music swelled up around, her own thoughts becoming a mere insignificant thing in the back of her mind. The muscles in her face twitched while she tiled her head back down towards the table, the foods and drinks sprawled out far more interesting than anything else she had ever set her sights on.

But then, something changed.

Juliet was made to look up by some sort of higher power, forcing her to take one more chance on her self, prove that she was strong enough to handle this. And by that moment, she had allowed herself the chance to catch the final glimpse of the aftermath of Shawn Spencer giving her the last look of the night rather than the woman he was with.

The best part of it all then became that the look she had longed to see on his face for a woman, a feeling that he would never recover from, was for herself rather than any number of gorgeous women in his past. It was simply a glimmer of hope that something would change between them, something that would allow Juliet to hold onto something for a little while longer.

A gentle frown that had for so long accompanied her facial features then turned to a half hearted smile signified only towards a certain special man of the night, even if his gaze was turned to another woman. It was a chance Juliet was now willing to take, all from a single simple glance that made her heart do flips and her mind to register that perhaps there was something more between the two.

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R//R, please.  
My first attempt at Juliet only's perspective.  
This is my second attempt at a psych fic, so constructive criticism is most graceful.


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